Juggernaut BBC drama Bodyguard will be used in a university course for students seeking to enter the film and television world. The thrilling six-part series, which culminated last night, will be referenced as an example of outstanding scriptwriting and what screenwriters can achieve.

Bernard Padden, a scriptwriting tutor, is introducing elements of the enthralling drama into the Film, Television and Radio degree at Staffordshire University’s campus in Stoke-on-Trent.

Bernard, who is also a freelance dramatist with more than 50 credits for episodes of medical soap opera Doctors on BBC1, will refer to the show in his lectures.

Image from episode 6 of the Bodyguard

He said: “Jed Mercurio is possibly, along with Russell T Davies, the most accomplished television dramatist around at the moment.

Staffordshire University

“Even before Bodyguard he wrote Line of Duty, which transformed the police genre and raised the game massively. Mercurio’s killer touch is his knowledge of procedure and the way police, hospitals and governments work.

Viewers have been gripped by the Bodyguard series

"He draws on his own experience and must do an incredible amount of research. He uses this knowledge to create a sense of realism you don’t see in other dramas and crime shows. Mercurio is able to use interview scenes that are just as compelling, if not more so, as an extended car chase sequence.”

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Mercurio, 52, hails from Cannock and originally trained and worked as a doctor across Birmingham and Wolverhampton before switching careers. Bernard’s lectures already talk about the use of procedure in Line of Duty and will now incorporate Bodyguard.

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Bodyguard’s first episode pulled in 10.4 million viewers on BBC1 – making it the biggest TV drama launch since 2006. Around 8million viewers watched one key instalment when it was revealed the Home Secretary, played by Keeley Hawes, had died in a bomb blast.

Graduates from Staffordshire University

Co-star Richard Madden has also raked in the plaudits – and achieved heart-throb status – for his turn as terse, simmering close protection officer David Budd.